Illinois IEP evaluation deadline: how long does the school have?

You signed consent for the evaluation. Here is exactly what Illinois law requires next, and what to do if the date passes.

The part most parents miss: these are school days, and the year-end rule

Illinois counts school days, not calendar days. A school day is a day students are in attendance for instruction. Weekends, holidays, winter break, spring break and summer do not count at all. Sixty school days is roughly three months of actual school.

The deadline also covers more than testing. Within those 60 school days the district must determine eligibility and hold the IEP meeting.

There is an earlier deadline before this one

The 60-school-day clock only starts once you have signed. But the district has its own deadline to get you that paperwork: after you request an evaluation, it has 14 school days to decide whether to evaluate and to deliver the consent paperwork to you. 23 Ill. Admin. Code § 226.110.

This matters because a district that sits on your request has already violated the law — even though the 60-day clock never technically started. Put your request in writing and keep the date. Date-stamp both the request and the signed consent.

How to count your deadline

1. Find the date the district received your signed consent. Not the date you mailed it — the date they got it.
2. Count forward 60 school days using your district's calendar. Skip weekends, holidays, teacher institute days and every break day.
3. If fewer than 60 school days are left in the year, your deadline is instead the day before the next school year starts.
4. That date is the deadline for the eligibility determination and the IEP meeting.

What to do if the deadline passes

1. Put it in writing the same week. Email the case manager and the special education director. State the consent date, the deadline date, and that it has passed. A phone call creates no record.
2. Ask for prior written notice. If the district refuses or delays, you are entitled to a written explanation of what it is doing and why.
3. File a state complaint. A missed timeline is a straightforward compliance violation. In Illinois this goes to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). It is free and does not require a lawyer.
4. Keep the paper trail. Every date, every email, every response.